My thoughts on education and life in general

After the Epic Storm

I feel so useless. Detached from where I am. Here I am surrounded by people who live their lives normally, while I worry about my friends back home. The work assigned by my advisers had to be abandoned for the moment. All this time, I am asking why on earth am I here being useless.

I first heard about it early Saturday morning. I checked my Facebook news feed, and even if there is a storm going on, people are more concerned about not being able to harvest their farms in Farm Town or Farm Ville. I was not worried, for I knew that it does not flood in our area.

The mood quickly changed on Saturday afternoon, as the first batch of photos appeared online. Holy crap, it looked like Metro Manila followed Atlantis to the depths. Suddenly, I wasn’t so sure about what happened at home. Suddenly, everyone is keeping tabs on each other, checking if they are still alive.

Suddenly, everyone was paranoid. And for good reason.

I was finally able to contact my family on Sunday morning. They’re okay. The water was waist-deep in our house, some of my books and notes are ruined. But I started laughing. Those books and notes can disappear forever for all I care. I’m just glad that they are safe. We are still lucky compared with others.

Watching from outside, it is inspiring to hear my former students and friends taking the initiative in volunteer work. I salute you all. Keep up the good work. And I wish that I could be there with you. 😦